Electric cars can out do gasoline guzzlers using SCiB batteries

Toshiba Corporation has announced that its new SCiB rechargeable battery has been selected by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. to power its new electric car, the Fit EV that is going to be launched in summer 2012 in Japan and the U.S.A.

The SCiB batteries are claimed to retain its 80% of charging capacity even after 4000 charge-discharge cycles (some thing like >10 years of battery life for normal office goer). And also more interesting claim is more than 80 percent of the SCiB cell capacity can be charged in 15 minutes using a large charging current (tea break is enough to charge to this extent). That's great news for electric vehicle designers. EV designers are desperately looking for batteries, which can last longer and fast-charging, so that electric cars can become more practical allowing the users to travel long distances without charging for hours. This new technology from Toshiba is phenomenal, provided the technology is available at affordable prices as well as widely available. Toshiba says its SCiB module it has conducted a comprehensive evaluation program that tested the battery's performance under diverse and demanding conditions.

Lithium titanate oxide material is used in the battery anode to achieve rapid charge times and a long battery life, and the SCiB is also capable of rapid charge and stable power discharge in a wide range of environments. In extremely cold conditions as low as minus 30 Deg C the SCiB is less likely to experience lithium metal deposition, which enhances the risk of internal short circuiting and battery degradation, and at high temperature, even above 40 Deg oC, the impact on battery degradation is lower than in conventional lithium-ion batteries, claims Toshiba.

The SCiB batteries are also said to achieve efficient charging using regenerative braking and slowing down.

These batteries can not only serve the electric vehicle domain but also range of battery applications. The need of improved battery technology is more important now than any time before.

To know more about these batteries visit: http://www.scib.jp/en/product/detail.htm